STRIPES

STRIPES is an urban-land-art installation that transforms the Boulevard des Champs-Élysées into a monumental climate narrative: a chromatic journey from past to present, from blue to red, from cold to hot.

For centuries the Champs-Élysées has been a stage for history: triumphs, dreams and collective memory. Yet today it stands at the threshold of another defining story: the story of our changing climate. STRIPES is conceived as a visible timeline etched in light: each lamp post tuned to a specific temperature that corresponds to a moment in Earth’s climatic history following the Climate Stripes concept originated from climatologist Ed Hawkins. At the Avenue’s beginning, lights glow deep blue, a symbol of a cooler past. Gradually, as one moves toward the Arc de Triomphe, tones shift through the spectrum into warm reds that embody the climatic reality of 2026.

Light, in this project, is not decoration, it is a measure of change. By reconfiguring an existing urban infrastructure into a living climate chart, STRIPES invites citizens to physically traverse the imprint of centuries of warming. It makes palpable what graphs and charts can only describe: the movement of time, the acceleration of change, the slow passage from one climate state to another.

STRIPES is an immersive experience not just for the eyes, but for the mind and the conscience. By embedding environmental data into the everyday fabric of the city, this installation catalyzes awareness and reflection: on how we have arrived here, and on where we are headed.

In the spirit of speculative design and social imagination, STRIPES does not merely illustrate climate change it makes the city itself a witness to it. In walking its length, the public becomes part of a temporal narrative, a collective procession through climate history.

STRIPES is an invitation to see, to feel, to reflect, and ultimately, to act.

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Credits:

• Design: Cosimo Scotucci

• Year: 2026